How to get involved with a massive immigration advocacy art project coming to Detroit

Courtesy of LIbrary Street Collective

JR presents his ongoing 'Inside Out 11M' project.

Putting the “unity” in community is award-winning artist JR, who has turned his artistic lens to Detroit’s immigration advocates and community members for a nationwide participatory art initiative as a way to communicate to Congress the importance of enacting legislation to create a pathway to citizenship for millions of American immigrants.

Detroit's Library Street Collective is hosting an interaction of JR’s"Inside Out 11M" as part of the artist’s 16-city tour across the U.S. in which he will take photographic portraits of advocates, leaders, immigrants, and descendants of immigrants, all of whom will join thousands of others who have helped JR use “art as an expression of standing in solidarity with millions of immigrants.” Those photos are then pasted to large canvas and/or are wheat-pasted and displayed throughout community spaces as a means to humanize our neighbors and create conversations about equality and social justice.

Since launching the Inside Out Project in 2011 following his TED Prize win for his TED Talk, JR has taken more than 415,000 portraits across 138 countries, resulting in more than 2,000community activations of public spaces.

Event is from 10 a.m.-4 p.m on Thursday, Sep. 2 at the Belt behind Library Street Collective, 1274 Library St., Detroit; 313-600-7443; lscgallery.com. Admission is free.